The most essential for the leader is to understand and knowledge about other cultures. In this blog, I’ll be talking about business and the Deaf. “An ethic is a set of principles defining right conduct for a social group, a culture, or a nation.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018). From my experience and what I’m seeing that the leaders are not aware of Deaf individuals. American Sign Language is our value and the most essential to communicate. This blog aims to show why a leader should be knowledgeable and understand the Deaf community and cultures.
Heather McDonald made a horrible joke about using American Sign Language on her social media, an American actress. She was using fake sign language with a guy, unsure who he was. She is an actress and should not be mocking the Deaf community with “Fake Sign Language” on one of her podcasts on social media. She didn’t show her empathy or understanding of why American Sign Language should not be joking around. It is a big offensive to the Deaf community. She is a leader for her platform, and this is a perfect example that she does not understand other cultures.
Another example that I can share is that the White House promised to provide American Sign Language on the screen so the Deaf community can be involved. This is a perfect example from a leader, President Joe Biden’s administration. He provided an American Sign Language for the presses, and it was on the screen. It was the best news that we heard and understood the presses due to the pandemic for the last two years now. When the pandemic started, things were not easy for the Deaf community because Trump’s administration didn’t provide an American Sign Language. Fortunately, most states and major cities like Philadelphia, New York City, and more provided American Sign Language. Whoever provided an American Sign Language was the perfect example of good leadership for the Deaf community. “Employees view improvements and communication as a two-way street, with the leader being as influenced by his or her workforce as the workforce is by management.” (Abramson & Moran, 2018).
Overall, the leader needs to be knowledgeable and understand the Deaf community and cultures so the Deaf community can be part of everything. It would be great if leaders find great resources providing the best access to communication for the Deaf community or other cultures. However, there are no excuses for the leader to “not know” that there are no resources for different languages.
References:
Abramson, N. R., & Moran, R. T. (2018). Managing Cultural Differences: Global Leadership for the 21st Century (10th ed.). Routledge.
Li, L. (2021, January 27). White House briefings will now include an American Sign Language interpreter. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-briefings-will-now-include-an-american-sign-language-interpreter/